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After changing consumers' expectations of what a cup of coffee should cost, Starbucks Corp. is looking to extend its brand into film, music and books. "Our customers have given us permission to extend the experience," chairman Howard Schultz said.

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The May 19 opening of Apple Computer's new flagship store in New York is further validation of the company's five-year-old move into retail. Apple retail stores accounted for 17% of company sales last year, generating about $4,000 per square foot annually.

The soon-to-launch CW network is offering advertisers a new and unusual vehicle -- commercials with plot lines that will run in two-to-three minute segments across an evening of programming. The ads, dubbed "content wraps," are "entertainment" that will help the network "keep viewers with us throughout the night," according to a senior executive.

Despite well-publicized news about the dissolution of a marketing deal between McDonald's and Walt Disney, movie studios are still embracing fast-food restaurants and snack food companies as marketing partners.

Microsoft's $400 million acquisition of the New York-based Massive games advertising shop underscores just how lucrative the market for in-game ads has become. Some forecasts project games advertising will reach $2 billion by 2010.